1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to integrated circuit design, and more particularly, to a small-form-factor (SFF), system-on-package (SOP) architecture having one or more of improved performance, integrated thermal management and interference mitigation within the SFF-SOP environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile platforms are getting smaller in size and incorporating more electronic and wireless functionalities for efficient communications. In order to include all the desired electronic functionalities into the future small-form-factor (SFF) mobile platforms, embedded system-on-package (SOP) architectures are being developed.
Currently different active component as well as passive component embedding techniques are being developed using multilayer substrate materials and cavities. Device embedding techniques are being developed using low-cost materials which are not good for embedding radio-frequency (RF) functionalities. Some approaches to embed ‘integrated-passive-devices’ are being developed which may increase the cost of manufacturing and assembly, which tends to minimize the purpose of using low-cost material system. Moreover, RF-performance and size-reduction remains difficult to achieve for multi-standard wireless systems. RF-IPDs (Integrated Passive Devices) are also being utilized on silicon, low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC), glass or other materials and embedded into the low-cost material systems for RF connections. This potentially increases the cost of assembly and manufacturing considerably and degrade/changes the performance of complex passive structures after other component embedding or shielding in close proximity.
On the other hand, high-performance materials are being utilized which are perceived to have higher cost than digital-substrate materials. These materials can embed complex RF passive designs in multilayer material environment. Thermal and noise management issues are not yet solved in the current SOP structures. The conventional electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) structures for noise-mitigation in the SFF-SOP environment will tend to consume significant space and will increase the overall SOP size. Both of these approaches also suffer from cross-talk thermal issues.